Compositions
Album release: A Thousand And One Hopes
While composing these tracks I was asking myself where we can find hope today, living in such a tortured world.
Compositions
Album release: Be Water, Be Light
Recent civil disobedience movements have employed tactics and gestures inspired by water and light – movements which have been subject to unrelenting suppression.
Compositions
Migrant Voices and “Soap of My Heart”
I was fortunate to have an artist residency to develop music within Olympias Music Foundation’s Migrant Voices project. The spontaneously-formed band in which I co-created music was called “Soap of My Heart”. Migrant Voices was the premiere performance of 4 new musical works, created during a week-long artist residency with Read more…
Compositions
New work! Unwept Tears
What happens to our secrets? What happens to our hidden stories? Eventually they find their way out. Unwept Tears began as a story and became a piece of music before turning into a film. Text and music by Rachel Beckles Willson Narration, oud, udu and sampled voice: Rachel Beckles WIllson Read more…
Performances
Lecture-recital in Cremona
In the series Dal local al globale I presented a lecture-recital in Cremona in the beautiful Dipartimento di Musicologia e Beni Culturali, leading the audience on a journey through modal music practices of the Arab, Ottoman and Persian traditions.
Events
Moro Festival
Today is Good! took the stage at the first edition of Siracusa’s Moro Festival on 22 December
Compositions
Sing no Sad Songs for Me
A song-cycle connecting the Bosphorus and the Thames – resonances woven through the memories of women Poetry by Christina Rossetti Music by Rachel Beckles Willson Performers: Rachel Beckles Willson (vocals, oud), Ciro Montanari (tabla), Kostas Tsarouchis (double bass), Evgenios Voulgaris (yayli tanbur) ‘Sing no Sad Songs for Me’ connects the Read more…
Compositions
New work – London premiere!
Sing no Sad Songs for Me – a cycle of pieces after the poetry of Christina Rossetti. For voice, oud, yayli tanbur, double-bass and tabla Premiered at St Ethelburga’s Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, London, on 30 June 2018 My imperialist grandfather Henry Beckles Willson was sent in 1918 to Palestine to decommission Read more…
Performances
Launching the Renaissance Emir
To complement the story of Ted Gorton’s book Renaissance Emir, I put together a programme to the Mosaic Rooms, London. I was joined by Stavroula Constanti, Ahmad AlSalhi, Nilufar Habibian and Interlink publisher Michel Moushabeck. Literature Event & Concert: Renaissance Emir